


Oasis

by hlwim



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-10
Updated: 2012-11-10
Packaged: 2017-11-18 01:53:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/555575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hlwim/pseuds/hlwim
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When it's all over, they have each other.  And that's enough.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Oasis

**Author's Note:**

> Post ME3, but no spoilers. Created for the Mass Effect Big Bang. Many thanks to alishatorn for putting the whole thing together, and MaxwellDemon for the inspiring art!

  
  
Art by MaxwellDemon

** Oasis **

The sea opens up beneath the balcony, a vast gold plain capped with gentle swells of white-churned waves. The sun is setting, reaching its wispy orange arms across the water, enveloping the angles of the house and the curves of Miranda's hands.

Her eyes flicker over the water, darting up the cliff-side barely visible towards the northwest and back down the empty beach, far below. The datapad balanced between her fingers scrolls a constant feed from fifty perimeter cameras, which she can pause, rewind, or enhance with a series of simple commands. Maintenance drones feed data directly to her omnitool, collating relevant spikes and stasis into hourly reports.

The house itself is fitted with the latest in thermal, electrical, and radiological detectors. Each room can be locked down against attack, self-sustaining for at least a month, reinforced against hurricanes and earthquakes and meteor strikes.

“If you keep checking the shield, it's going to collapse from self-consciousness.”

Miranda whirls around to see Shepard, grinning, slouched almost sinuously against the doorframe.

“I broke the perimeter,” she says, laughing at Miranda's expression. “Call in the paratroopers!”

“I'm only trying to ensure that we are getting the exact service that we paid for.”

“Lighten up, Miri,” Shepard sighs with an affectionate smile.

She pushes off from the door and walks out, slow and still a little unsteady on her weakened left knee. Miranda takes her outstretched hand quickly and guides Shepard to the rail.

“Here's something I haven't seen for a while,” Miranda says, as Shepard exaggerates the sway of her hips.

“Finally fits again. Thought it could use an airing out. And that hospital gown is more like a tent.”

The leather doesn't hug her the way it used to, but the dress still sits decent on her frame, amplified by the associated memories. Miranda's hand drifts up Shepard's bare arm, appreciative. The prosthesis has bonded smoothly to the surrounding flesh, artificial hydraulics twitching beneath warm skin.

“Stop,” Shepard says firmly. “Could you just stay here for a while?”

“I'm sorry. It's hard to shut off, sometimes.”

But Shepard just smiles and kisses her gently.

“There's nowhere else we have to go. Nothing else to do. Just whatever we want.”

“I don't really know how to handle that kind of freedom.”

“Well, I have a suggestion.”

Shepard summons a drone with her omnitool, and it brings out a pair of glasses and a decanter.

“I've already cross-referenced my medication doses,” she says, silencing Miranda's question. “No adverse interactions expected. Though, as my girlfriend, you shouldn't even be in charge of my medical treatment.”

“Since when have ethical boundaries been a concern for _you_?”

“Touché.”

Shepard pours them each a half-glass of wine and raises her hand for a toast.

“Here's to the largesse of the Lawson Foundation,” she grins.

“And their easily-hacked bank accounts.”

They clink glasses, and drink, and turn together to watch the sun go down.

“Screw everything else,” Shepard says, pulling Miranda into an embrace. “I got mine.”


End file.
